Spring has sprung

Or at least this week it gave a credible effort.

Tonight we're expecting snow flurries....

again.

But most of the accumulated snow from the winter has melted.

It was a glorious week.

Birds are back,

and their various chirps, tweets and honks are like music to my ears.

Ever noticed how quiet it is in the winter?

I am reminded every spring how silent everything has been.

I ordered some more Barred Rock chicks, 

pick them up Tuesday.

That's a sign of Spring, right?

Fluffy baby chicks.

And mud.

Oh, the mud.

It's a sign of Spring.

And although I have to wash my floor a bazillion times a day,

I'm not yet complaining about it.

Cause mud = Spring.

Here's a few pictures of something I mentioned I was dying to see again.

Happy ladies.

Not sure if they're finding much,

but they sure are trying.

Exploring...

going up.

And coming back down.

I love fluffy chicken butts.

She's pretty sure I have food.....

This is when I first came out.

They all come running,

even though I didn't call them.

They're just making sure they don't miss out if there is any food.

Cyrus is constantly muddy....

And he actually was clean in this picture,

but he is SO not clean now.

He rolled in a huge mud hole,

and is now a mud horse.

Literally caked with mud.

I am so glad spring is finally trying to arrive.

My Day

Went by pretty fast.

The morning lasted all of 3 seconds, I kid you not.

The afternoon we spent outside,

me cleaning the barn, burning garbage, etc.

Kids playing....

and playing and playing.

I got Pax out of his pasture and hung out with him...

took him for a little walk.

We explored,

and goofed around.

The kids were impressed with his cavorting.

He would trot around me,

turn and face me and rear right up.

Then we would both go for a run,

and he's give a little buck.

Ava said after,

"Mom, you were teaching Pax tricks."

Yeah.....

Now, he doesn't act like that all the time on the lead.

He's a very well mannered horse.

But we were playing,

and so the rearing and bucking.

And then we came in.

And Ava wanted a snack.

So she had the regular jar of peanut butter,

which was almost gone.

She got it all out, though.

And then I had to take a picture of her funny face.

She was telling me today that she really wants an ice-cream cone,

'cause she's never had one.

And she hasn't.

They are made of wheat, which she is allergic to.

Which I explained to her.

She said,

"No problem.  We tan just find some wif no WHEAT!"

I answered,

"Well, I can try to."

Then she yelled out,

"NO! I tan!  'Tause I'm da BEST!!"

Okay then.

She's still my baby.

She will be till she's dead.

She's a delicate flower,

but a wildflower, because she's also very tough.

Sometimes she just needs a nap.

And so she go's into the livingroom, 

and crashes on the couch.

She has gorgeous eyelashes.

And a hairy forehead.

Notice anything different in my Great room?

Look low.

Really low.

Cyrus, having a snooze.

Using a concrete pad as a pillow.

His goofy "just woke up" face.

Ahhh.  He sees what woke him up.

This spot on the counter always has at least one kid on it when I am working in the kitchen.

This was while I was making supper.

Notice something a little,

uh...

gross?

A closer view.

Even closer.

Can you tell he had fun outside?

Check his feet.

It was a good day.

Being out in the sunshine did me a world of good.

C'mon Spring.

Ice, Ice, Baby!

Shicaw!

Anyone else remember that song?

No?

Just me?

Okay then.

It pretty much sums up my day.

Spent almost four hours at the Arena,

boys played back to back games,

and I did the door for both...

which means I had to be there early for the first game.

They both won,

one had 2 assists

(and plays defense)

and one had a goal and a beeyootiful assist.

So, good hockey night.

The other part of the "ICE" theme was the roads.

Like a skating rink, baby.

First son to play forgot his stick,

so I had to drive ALL the way back home to get it.

On the ice rink roads.

Yes, I took pictures while driving.

Yes, there's warning lights on.

One's an airbag warning light,

the other is a "GET YOUR DARN SEATBELT ON" light.

But that's not the point.

The point is,

Do you see a road,

with any pavement?

Or just ice?

I see ice, ice, baby.

The reason I had my camera out in the first place,

is on the way back home I spotted some things.

Very cute things.

And I hoped they would still be there on my way back to town.

Guess what?

They were.

Can you see them?

Yearlings,

I think.

That one on the right is going to live a long time.

He never took his eyes off me.

Ever.

I fear for the others...

This little glimpse made my heart sing.

And that's it.

Slid past every road I tried to turn at,

and watched two very good hockey games.

My life is boring.

And now I'm going to bed.

But first,

the song.

'Cause it's in my head.

Enjoy.

I was HACKED!!

Seriously.

Worms, Backdoors, Trojans,

all things I don't understand but know are bad.

22 items, most listed as critical.

Uh-oh.

So, I took my computer, like immediately,

to my Dad.

'Cause he's a computer guru.

And, he fixed it.

Took him longer than I wanted,

'cause I have zero patience for waiting and like things done yesterday,

but he did it.

And my computer is now my own again.

I couldn't help but laugh at the hacker though...

as a Mark I'm pretty pathetic.

Nothing in my inbox but hockey e-mails,

articles on self sufficient farming and homesteading,

daily devotionals,

horse magazine articles,

animal rescues updates,

and family group e-mails.

Nothing at all exciting.

And though I do have internet banking,

I have one account and as soon as money goes in there it heads back out.

So, basically, I'm very boring.

Not really worth the trouble....

It was kinda violating though....

However, it's fixed.

Yay!

In other news....

got some 3 dollar shirts at Walmart.

Question about this one:

Is this too young for a 30, uhhhh how old am I?

Hang on, gotta think.....

32 year old?

It's kinda teenage girl, a little bit.

But, I liked it.  And it was 3 dollars.

On another note,

what's with all the faces on shirts now?

I have to say that 90% of the shirts I looked at had a face,

or features of  a face,

on them.

I have a face.

I don't need a second one on my chest.

Just sayin'.

In other other news....

This guy

Has to have surgery.

He has a problem with testicular torsion,

and yes, it is what it sounds like.

His testicles twist up like a pretzel.

Excruciatingly painful.

It has happened to him 4 times,

twice he's gone to the emerg.

The problem with this condition,

besides the painful part,

is there is a 5 hour window from when the torsion happens to when he has to be under the knife in surgery.

If no surgery, testicle dies,

and that brings it's own set of problems.

So, it's pretty serious.

It happened again last weekend,

and he had a hockey game.

As soon as he told me,

I stuck him in a hot bath,

'cause a couple of times that has helped.

It didn't this time.

He got out of the bath and sat in the chair by the fire,

legs curled up to his chest,

and a few tears squeezing out.

(Side note: he is the toughest kid I have. Best kid when he's sick, no complaining.)

I sat at his feet and rubbed them,

after giving him an Advil.

I was kinda waiting,

seeing if it would get better.

'Cause when it untwists it's like a miracle cure,

he's better right away, like nothing ever happened.

But, it didn't,

so I packed up everybody and after dropping the other kids off at their Dad's,

headed for the Hospital.

We got in pretty fast,

same as the last time.

(No fooling with this condition.)

On the way in Nathan had started feeling better,

but I wasn't sure whether that was just the Advil finally kicking in or not.

When the Doctor came in,

after asking questions and examining poor Nate,

I was in trouble.

First of all,

he chastised me for waiting.

I should have headed for the hospital immediately.

I told him it had happened a couple times before,

and had resolved itself at home,

and he gave me an eyebrow.

And said,

"Five hours.  Five.  To be in surgery."

Second,

I went to the hometown hospital,

and that was wrong.

Should have gone to the city hospital,

which is only 15 minutes farther away from me.

'Cause he said if it hadn't untwisted,

(which it had)

they would have stuck him on an ambulance to the big hospital anyway.

I said,

"Are you sure it's untwisted?  I gave him an extra strength Advil."

He says," Advil doesn't touch the pain."

Ouch.

So, he explained that because this has happened now a few times,

it's time to get the surgery.

Because, if I am away,

like at hockey,

or camping

and it happens,

it's going to be hard to get him into surgery in time.

So.

To the specialist we go.

Until then,

every night during bedtime prayers,

Nate reminds me,

"Pray for my balls, Mom."

So, I do.

Chicken were out today...

nosing in on Pax's lunch.

Goodnight!

Grrrrrrrr

I have been trying to blog for 2 hours.

I have a bunch of pictures to share, to illustrate our day,

and blogger says I have run out of storage space.

Huh?

So, I tried a bunch of different things,

and none of them worked.

So, I clicked on "yes" to purchase more space.

Except....

I don't have a credit card.

Don't like them.

So, no more pictures for me.

Unless one of you smart people out there can tell me what to do.

Please tell me what to do...

my head is about to explode.

And that would be messy.

On the way to hockey...

This happened.

So I sat in the van, outside of this....

And fooled around with my camera.

I thought it turned out kinda cool.

Valentines Day

Is today.

And you see all this stuff about it being a commercially fabricated holiday,

or singles awareness day...

and I get that.

But really?

It's kind of nice to have a day where you tell the ones you love that you love them.

Of course, it shouldn't take Valentines Day for you to say that,

but having a day dedicated to showing love?

Not so bad.

And as for the singles awareness thing,

you don't have to have a significant other to have love in your life, do you?

I love my kids....

and they love me.

They made me Valentines,

I made them these:

My very good friend called and wished me a Happy Valentines Day.

I'm just saying,

you don't have to be in a relationship to participate in the holiday.

So get over it!!

Real love isn't about what you get, anyway.

It's what you give.

Here's my crafty son.

He's always enjoyed crafts, from the time he was really young.

He's got a very creative and artsy mind.

And my crafty daughter.

She is always drawing, colouring, cutting, pasting...

And for every holiday she makes a bunch of cards for all her people.

Although, sadly, she has inherited her Mother's propensity for never getting them delivered.

We have literally drawers full of her homemade cards...

years worth.

 She takes it seriously,

and really tries to personalize each card.

(Mine always have horses.)

And the other two kids?

They were not into making cards.

Ava will do some craft stuff, she doesn't mind it.

If she's in the mood.

But Nate?

Crafts are a fate worse than death.

He hates colouring, always has.

Hates making cards.

Hates everything that has to do with Arts and Crafts.

So they were watching Veggie Tales.

Nathan: "I love you Ava."

Ava:" I wuv you too, Nate."

And they do...

they also are the two kids that fight the most.

And now,

I'll share the song that has been going around in my head all day...

It's a Veggie Tales love song, so it works for Valentines Day.

He threw off my Groove

This is not the post I was going to do.

My post had pictures to go with it.

You know, illustrate the story?

Some background:

Today is Thursday,

meaning I had the Duck-man here visiting.

I love that kid.

But today, he was rather like a tornado.

Busy, busy boy.

Happy....

he's always happy.

It's just, well, he acted like a normal 2-yr.old. 

He pulled everything out of everywhere.

And I mean EVERYTHING!!

I took pictures but.....

I had nothing left in my kitchen cupboards,

or in my island.

Where was I?

Teaching in the very next room.

He is a stealth messer.

He's got mad Ninja skillz, that boy.

Aaaaand

He's the reason I have no pictures to show you of the colossal mess.

See, my kids are big now, relatively.

I've become lax in my protection of things.

I had left my card reader in the computer,

which is on the floor,

which the D-man found,

which he then ripped apart.

I have know idea how he did.

Strong hands on that boy.

But he split it in half....

I tried to put it back together, but circuits are broken.

So, that'll teach me.

All I have is old pictures of my trip to Mexico.

Oh, how I'd love to be in Mexico!

I'm sure you've seen them before....

but here they are again!

This one is actually New York.

don't know how it got in here.

And that's about it.

It's thrown off my groove.

(I'm sorry, but you threw off the Emperors Groove.)

(Soooorry!)

Got a crazy busy week-end coming up...

hopefully maybe I can find a cheap card reader somewhere,

so I can get my groove back.

(If you don't know the reference, watch this till the end.)